During the production and assembly of food products, various food components are processed and assembled along a conveying path into a final food product. For example, buns or biscuits may be sliced into at least upper and lower sections and then assembled with meat, cheese of other product slices or pieces between the upper and lower sections to make a sandwich.
To cut a bun or biscuit into the at least upper and lower sections, a whole bun or biscuit typically is conveyed along a conveying path (i.e. conveyor belt) and travels through and past a longitudinal band-saw located across the conveying path that longitudinally cuts the whole buns or biscuits into the at least two sections to define a separation line there-between.
After the bun or biscuit is cut into at least upper and lower sections by the band-saw blade, the respective sections are conveyed away from the blade in a “stacked” formation, i.e., the upper section lying directly on top of the lower section, with the separation line located there-between. However, during subsequent food assembly processes, it is advantageous that the upper section of the bun or biscuit be separated or “de-topped” from the lower section to allow the meat or cheese slices to be placed on the lower section during sandwich assembly processes.
Although “de-topper” mechanisms or assemblies are present in the art for parting stacked products such as bun or biscuit sections, numerous disadvantages are associated with these de-toppers. For example, some de-toppers present in the art utilize a conveyor mechanism to part or separate the stacked bun or biscuit sections. With such conveyor mechanisms, as the stacked upper and lower sections of the buns or biscuits are conveyed along a given pathway, the upper sections come into contact with a conveyor located generally transverse to the pathway of the stacked sections. The belt of the transverse conveyor is oriented about parallel to the sides of the upper bun or biscuit sections such that, when each upper section comes into contact with the moving belt, it is bumped transversely from each lower section, thus parting the sections at their separation line.
Transverses conveyors, however, have a conveyor belt and related components that are prone to contamination, thus requiring complex disassembly and cleaning procedures in compliance with government food production sanitary standards. Such complex disassembly and cleaning procedures of such transverse conveyors thus result in undesirable food production down-time and increased maintenance costs. Furthermore, the transverse conveyor is not readily adjustable in relation to the conveying path of the stacked bun or biscuit sections to allow for an adjustment of the angle of the transverse conveyor in relation to the conveying path.
Other de-topper mechanisms present in the art utilize a pivoted lever arm that pivots upwardly and downwardly in relation to the stacked bun or biscuit sections to drag the upper section of each bun or biscuit from the lower section. However, such pivoted lever arms suffer the disadvantage of placing each upper bun or biscuit section rearwardly of each lower section on a common conveying path, instead of placing the upper sections onto a conveying path separate from that of the lower sections.
Such a placement of each upper section rearwardly of each lower section on a common conveying path results in counter-productive confusion during any sandwich assembly process requiring that the top section of the bun or biscuit be replaced on top of the lower section and remaining sandwich components (i.e. on top of the bun or biscuit bottom section having meat, cheese or other products located thereon). The confusion results when assembly personnel have difficulty differentiating between the bun or biscuit upper and lower sections, due to their location on the common pathway, thus resulting in improperly-assembled sandwiches having the bottom section placed on top of the remaining sandwich components and/or the top section placed at the bottom of the sandwich.
Thus, what is needed is a product de-topper that is relatively simple in construction, thus avoiding complex disassembly and cleaning procedures that result in undesirable food production down-time and increased maintenance costs. Such a de-topper should be readily adjustable to facilitate an adjustment of the transverse angle at which the upper sections of the products are separated from the lower sections. The de-topper should also place the upper sections of the products onto a conveying path separate from that of the lower sections to facilitate the ready re-assembly of the sections without confusion. The present invention satisfies the foregoing needs.